Tire-tightener



(No Model.)

0. D. HAMMON.

TIRE TIGHTENER.

Pate-ntedPe b. 19, 1889.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE},

CLARENCE D. HAMllION, OF DELAVAN, MINNESOTA.

ITIRE-TIGHTENER.

SPECIFICATION formingpartof Letters Patent No. 397,982, dated February19, 1889. Application filed April 2, 1887. Renewed August 27, 1888.Serial No. 283,936. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CLARENCE D. HAMMON, of Delavan, in the county ofFaribault and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Tire-Tighteners, of which the following is aspecification.

My present invention relates to tire-tighteners; and the inventionconsists in certain features hereinafter more fully set forth andclaimed.

Figure 1 is a perspective view. Fig. 2 is a top plan view with a portionbroken away, and Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line :10 0c of Fig.2.

This invention is designed for use in the same manner or for the samepurpose as that described in my pttent, No. 317,347, but difderstood bya glance at Fig. 1.

fers therefrom in scveral particulars.

In Fig. 1, F represents a portion of the rim or felly of a wheel, and Ra spoke of the same. The clamp by which the device is fastened to thespoke consists of a block, A, having a solid head at one end, in whichis cut a female screw-thread for the reception of screw 0, as shown, theblock A having two laterally-projecting arms, a n, to embrace the spokeand hold the clamping devices. I then provide a clamping-block, B,having in its opposite faces concavities of differing sizes, as shownin. Figs. 1 and 2, to adapt it to spokes of diiferent sizes. This blockB has projections 0 at each end, both above and below, to fit over thearms a of the block A, as shown clearly in Fig. 1, to hold it fromfalling out and permit it to slide to and fro on the arms n.

Near the outer end of the arms a they are provided on their innerfaceswith vertical recesses w, as shown in Fig. 2, to receive and hold a nut,V, made in the form of arectangular plate, with lips 11 at its uppercorners, to rest on the arms n and prevent it from dropping through. Tothis nut or plate V is fitted a screw, T, the inner end of which isrounded and bears against the clamping-block B, as shown in Figs. 2 and3, this screw '1 being provided with a squared head for the applicationof a wrench, and which may also have a series of holes, m, to enable itto be turned by means of a small rod instead of a wrench, if desired.

The screw C, which works in the head of B slipped off, turned around andblock A, is also squared near its upper end, as shown at J, and is inlike manner provided with holes m, so it can be turned with a wrench ora rod, as may be preferred. Instead of the bifurcated push'block used inmy former patent, I use a block, I, made concave on its upper face whereit bears against the felly F, as shown in Fig. 1, it having a recess atthe center, as shown more clearlyin Fig. 2, for the head or end of thescrew 0 on which it is swiveled, the bearing-surfaces being atoppositesides of this central recess, so that the end of the rod C where itprojects through the block I will not come in contact with the felly andmar it when the screw is turned. The manner of using the device is thesame as in the former case, and will readily be un- By this constructionI dispense with the ratchet and pawl and the leverformerly used, therebysimplifying and cheapening the construction of the device, and, besides,it is adapted to all sizes of wheels. lVhen it is to be used on a wheelhaving large spokes, the block B has its larger concavity placed next tothe spoke, as shown in Fig. 1, and made to clasp the spoke tightlybetween it and the concave face'of the head or blockA; but when it isdesired to use it on a wheel having smaller spokes, then the nut V islifted out, the plate slipped on, and the nut V dropped back in itsseat, and the smaller concave of the block B is then forced against thespoke by means of the screw T. As the push-block I in this has no armsto straddle the spoke as before, and is made broad enough on its concaveface to fit any-sized felly, it can be applied to the light estcarriage-wheel or to the heaviest wagonwheel with equal facility. I alsomake the screw 0 much shorter than in my former patent, as it only needsto be turned but little to raise the fellysufficiently to insert thewasher between it and the shoulder of the spoke, and thus it is renderedmore portable, occupying but little space in a wagon.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. The clampconsisting of the block A, pro== vided with the arms a at, havingrecesses w w, the sliding block B, provided with the projections 0, tohold it in place on the arms 22, and the detachable nut V provided withthe screw T, all arranged to operate substantially as and for thepurpose set forth.

2. In a tire-tightener, a clamp for securing the device to a spoke,n-ovided with a reversiblc clamping-block, 15, having concavities ofdillfercnt sizes in its opposite faces, and the detachable nut 'V,provided with a screw, '1, all arranged to operate substantially asshown and described.

The eoinljiination, in a tire-lighiener, of ihe clam p consisting of thebifurcated concave block A, with the concave movable block B

